Quirky treat awaits those who visit this garden

Five years of hard work have turned the wilderness Karen Hurndell inherited into a neat and quirky garden.

Mrs Hurndell, her husband Greg, and their three sons bought their Springvale home five years ago. Along with the house was 1ha of overgrown land, which Mrs Hurndell immediately began to tackle.

It's now a pristine garden, with each section of the garden having a different theme. There's a Kiwiana garden, an Asian garden, a shade garden - including a wisteria-covered walkway - and even a SpongeBob SquarePants garden.

The Kiwiana garden greets visitors coming up the drive. It contains native plants and Kiwiana art, and wooden carvings made by chainsaw artist Merv Richdale.

The Asian garden existed in a basic form when the family moved into the house, Mrs Hurndell said.

"But I hadn't done anything to it until we went to Sanson one day, and I saw these small garden bridges for sale. That gave me the idea for an Asian-themed garden." A wooden sign welcomes people in Japanese and the wooden bridges that caught Mrs Hurndell's eye connect paths through the garden, which is filled with plants of mostly Asian origin.

The SpongeBob SquarePants garden came about when Mrs Hurndell took part in a garden ramble.

"I wanted to have something for the kids to enjoy, so I made SpongeBob and his friends out of old potato sacks."

The brightly-coloured figures stand in the middle of a pumpkin and melon patch.

Mrs Hurndell, a stay-at-home mum, puts housework first but once that is out of the way she spends as much time as she can in her garden.

"I became interested in gardening when I bought my first house."

She said the soil in the area was a mixture, and she had to plant accordingly.

"Some parts of the garden are sand and some are almost clay."

The Chronicle series on gardens takes a peek at Wanganui's glorious gardens both traditional and quirky.